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India’s PFBR attains criticality at last
Prime Minister Narendra Modi proclaimed it “a proud moment for India” when on April 6 the 500-MWe, sodium-cooled Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR) achieved initial criticality. This milestone, which comes some 22 years after the continually delayed PFBR project began, marks India’s entrance into the second stage of its three-stage nuclear program, which has the ultimate goal of supporting the country’s nuclear power program with its significant thorium reserves.
Daniel Mikkelson, Konor Frick, Shannon Bragg-Sitton, J. Michael Doster
Nuclear Technology | Volume 208 | Number 3 | March 2022 | Pages 437-454
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2021.1906473
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
There are no standard prioritization criteria for evaluating thermal energy storage (TES) options for use in integrated energy systems. A framework for proposing, analyzing, and presenting energy storage integration with power producers and users is presented along with a specific figure-of-merit (FOM) study based in this framework. This basis for evaluating storage technologies can provide a structure for the energy industry to analyze and prioritize energy storage in different applications and environments. The phenomena identification and ranking table (PIRT) presents a series of design questions specific to energy storage applications. The FOM study, built in this PIRT framework based on a nuclear-renewable hybrid energy system using TES to produce power and provide process energy for a secondary user, successfully identified specific technologies to use based on the project requirements. Expanding the library of projects using this framework will expand the deployable options for energy storage and increase its potential for energy security.